Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!

My summer of fun has already started with the first of three touring Broadway musicals! This past Saturday, Ellen, Renee and I saw Joseph at the Benedum Center. I love having an excuse to get dressed up and head in to Pittsburgh =) The theatre was gorgeous! I will have to take more pictures next time. Joseph is a really fun musical. My favorite dance sequence was "Go, Go, Go Joseph!". I wish I could learn that number, I just wanted to get up and do the dance with them! After the show, when we were coming down the stairs, the guy who played Joseph ran out in to the boutique with his hands in the air. Like, "ta da, here I am!". It was hilarious. He was even still wearing the coat. It was nice, but at the same time, made buying things a headache. Afterwards, we headed to the Southside Works and ate at the Cheesecake Factory! Ellen had never been to one before.

For those of you who want to know, Joseph was played by David Osmond, the nephew of Donny Osmond. His voice was incredible, even better than the original =p The narrator was Shoshana Bean. She played Elphaba in the touring productions of Wicked and has a solo album! Of course, she was amazing. I'll have you know that one of the reasons we chose this musical was because Jan-Michael, my husband, played one of the brothers in their high school production! haha! He sang the song "One More Angel in Heaven".

Legally Blonde is coming to Pittsburgh next month. We've been dying to go!! About a month ago, we heard about the Pittsburgh CLO subscription- you see 3 shows for one price. It was an amazing savings!!! We are basically seeing 3 musicals for $55. That's it. Heck, you pay more than that to see ONE show! So, we thought it was an amazing deal that we couldn't pass up. We got to choose 3 shows, the time, and the day. Of course the reason we got such a great deal is because we chose the cheapest plan- we have to go to Saturday matinees and we are pretty far in the back =p But still, so worth it to see 3! Obviously, Joseph was one of our choices and happened to be first. Next month is (omigod you guys!) Legally Blonde, then in August, we're seeing Into the Woods. Prior to this series, I had only seen 4 shows (Aida, Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked) over the span of 6 years! Yay, my list of Broadway shows is growing!

Biopsy... I Guess That Means I'm Not Getting A New Lotion

Have you ever gone to the doctor expecting your appointment to go a certain way... and then suddenly it takes a completely different turn?
I went to the Dermatologist expecting to get a new lotion and ended up having needles stuck in me, a chunk of skin taken out, and sent home with some sort of metal clip still attached. Um, totally unprepared for that one!
Do you or anyone you know tend to get "queazy" and/or pass out when shots and needles are involved? I happen to have this stupid, embarrassing "condition", although I'm quite happy to hear I'm not alone. I'm really thinking about getting a hypnotist because it's getting quite old.
Anyway, I expected to be given some sort of lotion or ointment for this silly red patch on my chest and spend the rest of the day shopping in Pittsburgh. At least I can be thankful that I was at the absolute best hospital when they found that they had no idea what it was... and grateful that it is also a teaching facility, so they had the latest and greatest equipment for performing the biopsy. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting this and therefore did not have a husband to hold my hand. It took longer for me to recover than the actual "surgery". How lame am I?! I drove the hour and a half back home without any shopping bags or Seattle's Best Coffee. That's the saddest part!
I love my husband. He has been changing my nasty bandaids and will accompany me when I have to return to have the foreign metal object extracted.
For those of you who have lived with dermatitis your whole life, had many lotions prescribed, found over the counter lotions you loved that were discontinued, who have to buy hypoallergenic everything, dealt with splitting fingers/toes, Eucerin is your BFF, do not take well to the ocean or chlorine filled pools, and on top of everything- get random skin imperfections..... I will toast you with my favorite latte after my final doctor's visit!

Memorial Day and Birthday Girl Ellen

Jan-Michael and I both had Memorial Day off and took that opportunity to go through all our crap... I mean, stuff! We have way too many boxes and want to downsize and declutter. We haven't really touched the boxes since they arrived, over a year and a half ago... except for the occasional "I can't find ____ lets go look in the boxes". It was a daunting task. I probably went through only 10 boxes, trying to organize in to kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. We accomplished getting the kitchen stuff all together, but that's about it. We also have quite the pile of stuff to sell and/or donate. There are still too many boxes to go through. Our one day task turned in to a muli-day task. Now we just need to have another day off together. The sudden downpour of rain slowed us. We had everything sprawled out on Grandma's driveway and had to hurry and run it back in to the garage! We sure worked up an appetite! When we got home, we had a picnic outside and Jan-Michael's brother, Rich, joined us. Colonel, my father-in-law, painted his flag pole red, white and blue and blasted patriotic music all day =)

Yesterday was Ellen's birthday!! We celebrated with her by driving to Greensburg... a part of Greensburg I had never seen, apparently. Who knew the places and things I love and miss were that close (Kohl's, Texas Roadhouse, Red Robin, etc)?! We are definitely going back =p We had dinner with Renee and her husband Matt, Stacey, and of course, Ellen, at TGIFridays. Then we made a special trip to Cold Stone Creamery and were very happy when the workers embarrassed Ellen by singing "Happy Birthday".

This weekend, we are really excited to be seeing Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat's Broadway Tour as part of Ellen's birthday celebration! A couple months ago, we purchased a Pittsburgh CLO Musical Theatre subscription and will be seeing Joseph, Legally Blonde, and Into the Woods this summer! YAY!!!

The Adventures of Krysta and Her GPS

I LOVE MY GPS! If you do not have one, get one. I only wish I had one when I first moved to California. It would have made my life a lot easier. Now that we do have one, I get go around this state without getting lost! My poor husband gets a break from driving me around. My first adventure was this weekend. Saturday, I had the day of and it turns out, I was the only one who had a day off without prior commitments. I didn't want to stay in town and wanted to venture out. So I decided to get up early and drive the hour and half to Pittsburgh to a mall I had never been to before. I know that sounds silly to drive an hour and a half just to go to a mall, but it was totally worth it! I had a little trouble once I got into Pittsburgh. Cities can always be confusing with their one way streets, however, I don't think any city is more confusing that Pittsburgh. There are bridges all over the city and if you miss your exit, you could end up on a bridge that takes you out of the city. Luckily I realized where I needed to be about 10 minutes later and had to go back out of the city to get the right ramp back in. Phew. I did take some cool shots of the city out the window while I was lost, so I don't mind the 20 minutes I lost of shopping time. I finally made my way through beautiful lush green hills and found my destination: Ross Park Mall. I was so excited to see a Nordstrom, I parked at it's entrance and went straight to it's cafe where I ordered a yummy mango latte (don't knock it until you try it! It's not on the menu though... so they may look at you funny). When I walked out of Nordstrom, right in front of me was a Juicy Couture and a Michael Kors. To my left was a Tiffany & Co and to my right was Louis Vuitton. Oh my gosh, I hit the mother load! Apparently I found the best mall in all of Pittsburgh. I hadn't seen stores like that since I lived in CA. I made my way over to non-other than the Cheesecake Factory where I met the most intelligent and beautiful lady in all of Pittsburgh, Miss Narlu, for lunch! We like to call ourselves the "city girls" of small town Uniontown and always laugh and talk about the things we miss. After our delightful lunch, we parted and I spent the next hour or so... shopping! I didn't get to browse around the entire mall, completely missing the second level, but that always leaves an excuse to go back. Three hours in a car, two shopping bags, and a full belly... that's one adventure Rebecca Bloomwood would be proud of!

Hollywood and Surprises

This weekend was very busy. First we kicked off the fun with a Hollywood movie themed birthday party for Jan-Michael! Of course, we dressed up like we were going to the Academy Awards. I got to re-wear my prom dress and Jan-Michael wore his dad's old suit jacket (Doesn't he look like a young James Bond?!)! Believe it or not, but I could not find white gloves in this town of mine... even at the wedding shops! Thank God for E-Bay! I worked hard gathering material from work and visiting all the discount party stores to get the best decorations! Thanks for helping Stacey! We didn't go all out like we did for Halloween, but it still looked awesome! Matt and Maggie dressed up too and we took great pictures. Who doesn't love the excuse to get glammed up?! We are going to keep all the decor and plan to have another one sometime in the future. Maybe we'll make it an annual thing =p Thanks for coming guys!
Here are more pictures from our Facebook: Click Me





All through the week and weekend, I was bursting at the seems with a secret... a surprise party! Monday night, it finally became a reality and we threw Ellen a surprise graduation dinner! She just graduated from Penn State! Congratulations! We has it at Ruby Tuesdays, and although she was quite embarrassed and surprised, she really loved it! I had an icecream cake made in Penn State colors and found a graduate
bobblehead you could put a face picture in (so it became Ellen). She said it was the first time she had ever had a surprise party. YAY!

40 Years of Happily Ever After

This past Sunday, my in-laws celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! Jan-Michael and I decided to surprise them by decorating their dining room and getting a cake. 40th is Ruby and red, so I tried to keep everything traditional. We sent them on a romantic dinner at the nicest place in town and got them a musical 40th picture frame to cherish their memory in. I had buttons made with their wedding picture that said "Happy 40th Anniversary" so they could proudly flaunt their achievement. Jan-Michael's brothers are sending them on a cruise this summer. I'm so happy to be part of their celebration. 40 years of happily ever after! Congratulations!!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy 25th birthday to my husband! His birthday was Friday, May 1st. I always say "Never work on your birthday!" But, well, he did. And regretted it! Who wants to deal with crabby attitudes on your birthday? I snuck a box of donuts and a card in his car, so I think that helped and he was happy about that. Once he got home, we drove to the Waterfront. Originally, he wanted Red Robin, but somehow we ended up at Dave and Busters! We did not get dessert since there's a Cold Stone Creamery next door. So we left and walked over the the glorious icecream shop to find that it had closed! Oh no! We quickly found another restaurant, went inside and just ordered dessert. We finally got our chance to sing an embarrassing "happy birthday"! It was rainy, as it has been all week, so we didn't do much else, just headed home! Next week we're having a fun birthday party for him, so the birthday celebration isn't over yet!